


Let's Write Cody's Redemption Arc!

by CeceRose



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Divergence - Order 66, Gen, Order 66, Post-Order 66, Redemption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:07:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24598003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CeceRose/pseuds/CeceRose
Summary: Originally copy-pasted from an un-posted Tumblr post. After a Clone Wars marathon (I rewatched all of the previous Clone Wars seasons before I finally got around to watching Season 7), I've been thinking a lot about Commander Cody and his relationships. I thought about how I feel both satisfied and unsatisfied with Captain Rex's escape from the Empire and eventual rebellion, and how I would feel both satisfaction as well as dissatisfaction if Cody had his chance at redemption from the Empire/Republic as well. I thought I was the only Clone Wars fan who particularly liked Cody and was interested in his friendships with both Rex and Kenobi, but apparently there are others somewhere in the ether. I wanted to explore those relationships and how Cody would react to his role as a war commander. What shot Cody to the highest rank was his thought ability. What freed Rex from the Empire was the same thing. In canon, Cody remained loyal. Here, he doesn't have that luxury.
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody & CT-7567 | Rex, CC-2224 | Cody & Obi-Wan Kenobi, CC-2224 | Cody & Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 4





	Let's Write Cody's Redemption Arc!

It’s been, what, two months since Season 7 of the Clone Wars came out? It showed more of the details of Order 66 from the clones’ perspective, showed Rex and some other clones getting their chips removed, how Ahsoka and the defected clones reacted to the Order now that no one was being mind-controlled. However, other Clones that were more than just red-shirt clones, Cody most prominently, were still subject to Order 66. Thus, “Cody stans” (of which I thought I was the only one but I suppose not) were heartbroken all over again when Cody didn’t hesitate to give the order to blast his general off a cliff after having fought alongside him for years prior. So I’ve been thinking about how exactly Cody would react if he were faced with the reality that he was being used by Palpatine both during the Republic as well as the Empire. I decided to explore exactly how that would work if not only for myself, then for the .002% of the Star Wars fandom whomst happen to care about Cody and his relationships. I’ve outlined a point-by-point timeline, detailing exactly how I feel this might play out, starting from the point of defection.

The reason that Cody couldn’t canonly separate from the Empire is in part because it would be pretty gratuitous to have yet another well known clone have his inhibitor chip removed so that he is no longer affected by Order 66. On the other hand, that would give a lot of freedom to write an actual redemption arc from the perspective of a clone that has to actively question his place as a trooper under the Empire and even the Republic to an extent. This way he can exercise agency rather than just having the chip (or lack thereof) do it for him.

I believe that it would be too easy for Cody to ultimately become a rebel--he’d have to be prematurely killed off before it even got to that point. This would continue with the pattern of Cody and Rex being foils to each other. Where Rex defects immediately and we don’t really get to see the process of his questioning his role during the Clone Wars, Cody’s journey can be shown in greater detail without it having a satisfying or even definitive conclusion. (I’m saying his ending shouldn’t be open-ended, he should just straight up die.) If it were left ambiguous whether or not he developed a rebel’s ideology, he never joined the rebels anyway so it ruins the illusion.

For the actual meat of the story and the aforementioned process of defection, Cody would need to go from a top rung (relatively) under the Empire to the bottom. It could mirror the fall of the jedi, specifically Obi-Wan’s fall from grace as a well-respected jedi master to an old hermit living in hiding in the middle of a sandy desert. Likewise, Cody was the first and only clone Commander for years of his life and respected by most clones and jedi alike. Then Order 66 comes and he tries to murder one of his closest companions. He then continues to show his unquestioning loyalty to the blatantly evil Empire and is of the highest rank in the new stormtrooper army.

However, he was not well respected by those under his command the same way that he was during the Republic. He grew to be a bit of a racist once the Empire started enlisting (or kidnapping and grooming) humanoids that were not clones to serve in the stormtrooper army, believing that they were inferior and abusing and overworking them when they didn’t meet his unrealistic expectations. He also lost a lot of his aforementioned friends and didn’t make any new ones due to his abusive behavior. He presumably lived the rest of his life, bitterly serving the Empire, so that’s one way that his quality of life declined. However, he was still pretty high up on the Empire’s social ladder so a real fall from grace would be what actually kicks off his redemption arc.

Somehow he’d have to first cut ties with the Empire, and the only way that would make any sense would be to be forcibly cut from his high-ranking position so that he is suddenly a nobody out on the streets. But as someone who served as a commanding officer longer than anyone else, that would require Darth Vader to somehow no longer have a use for him or maybe even look upon him with malice and see him as detrimental to his power. It’s possible since those under Cody eventually garnered an extremely negative opinion on him, they might band together to sabotage his position by convincing Vader that he is secretly planning a rebellion of his own. If that were the case, Vader would obviously have him executed, forcing him to escape with nothing but his life, cutting him off from the Empire and his title forever. This would diminish his status and place him on the lowest rung of society under the Empire. It would force him into hiding from any of his former cohorts, superiors, and subordinates. It would turn him into a street rat, resigned to one of the farthest corners of the galaxy where the Empire would never find out of his mortality status.

Only at this point when Cody has nothing left to lose and is probably rummaging through dumpsters to get by would he finally have the chance to stop and contemplate the Empire’s oppression and conquest alongside his own role in all of it. After being forced into hiding from the Empire, he’s an open target. He was already a war hero under the Republic and only grew more brutal and discriminatory under the Empire, causing his name to be more feared among the common folk should he ever be recognized by one of them, let alone the way that clones as a whole must be feared during the Empire’s reign. If he is exposed and vulnerable, he could have been targeted on the street once people realize he is a clone. His health would definitely be on the decline after being detached from the Empire.

[ ](https://www.deviantart.com/jeansebastien-p/art/The-doubts-of-Commander-Cody-185112055)

([x](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/))

At this point it would be good to for once introduce a completely original character in this story arc that is based in nothing other than pure fanservice. They could be another human being, but they don’t have to be. If I had my pick, I’d steal from [Alan Dean Foster’s Episode IX pitch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aanyjLmB1Bs) and use (what I believe are called) Alesians whomst may or may not have tentacles for limbs. At this time, the focus would have to be taken away from Cody and put into focusing on the world building and characterization of this new character whomst I will dub as “Ynox” because that’s a valid space-sounding name, I’m sure. Could Ynox parallel Cody in some way? Maybe she’s a Zuko type where she comes from a rich family who held some less-than-flattering ideals (they were Separatists) and now she has some defecting of her own on her hero’s journey. For some reason along with the tentacles, I would imagine the Alesians to also possess limbs and abs buff enough to rival those of a wookie, the only difference being the sheer visibility of the contours on each tentacle from their rippling muscles due to their sleek skin and lack of furry overcoats.

Anyways, Ynox is going to be Cody’s lancer and they’ll traverse the galaxy together for a little while until Cody is inevitably fridged for her benefit. Probably she’ll find him in some alleyway getting beat for being a clone. Seeing this helpless stranger, she fights off these non-force-sensitive goons, using her sheer muscle to disarm them of any weapons. She chases them off and gets Cody to safety and somewhere where he can get medical attention and not receive any further mistreatment. Ynox could be a character with a certain set of morals. She and her family were Separatists in part because they hate the Jedi Order and what they stand for. From their perspective, jedi intervene in societies and situations that are not their business and wield lethal weapons as well as eagerness to use them that are thinly veiled beneath the flowery language of being diplomatic monks. Because of that, Ynox may be wary of any clones by association, although she does not know about Cody’s own legacy. Although she may dislike clones as a knee-jerk reaction, Cody hasn’t given her any reasons not to help him.

The shared character motivational part is where I draw a blank. I want these two characters to start travelling together, all the while realizing that the things that they used to believe are relics of an old, flawed system. But they need immediate needs to get from Point A to Point B if the overarching plot is to be accomplished. Otherwise it’s just characters going through the motions with no personal investment. There is a want vs. need dichotomy that still needs figuring out because of this. One of the wants they need to want is to find anyone that Cody knew that fought for the Republic. Obviously the first person he will always have on his mind will be Rex, but since Rex has wiped himself off the map as well, they probably both assume each other dead. The only one that still has political power would be Senator Organa. They’d look for him first since he’s the only one that’s not in hiding.

Something that I’ve neglected to note but happens earlier on in the narrative is that not only does Cody get ungraciously excommunicated from the Empire, but he also gets a concussion in the process. This is what knocks out of him the hatred of all non-clones as troopers as well as his immediate and unexplained desire to murder all jedi. And as Cody continues on his travels to find people connected to his past, a lot of his past memories will come to light as well. Maybe he remembers Kenobi and how close they grew when they fought alongside each other with the 212th Battalion. Does he regret killing him? It doesn’t matter either way because just like all his other old friends, he believes he is now dead... until someone tips him and Ynox off that Kenobi may still be alive! This could spur him on to try and find where he is. On the way they have wacky adventures and Cody’s relationships from the Clone Wars as well as the entirety of Ynox’s backstory (turns out Organa is attuned to the fact that her family were notorious Separatists) are fleshed out. Some of the adventures will matter to the overarching plot with recurring both original and preexisting characters while some will be pure filler. I’m thinking it could have a sort of Orange is the New Black or Handmaid’s Tale setup where a present conflict is being shown with an interwoven flashback subplot, and they are thematically linked somehow.

They’ll try to hide Cody if they believe that him being recognized as a clone will put them in any sort of danger. They meetup with Organa eventually and try to negotiate with him. Ynox is already on tense terms with him, having been on the other side of the political spectrum. They try to hide Cody from him since he would definitely recognize him for who he is. Maybe Cody gets found out and they are forced to make a daring escape and move on to the next planet for more leads on anyone else’s whereabouts. Their tracking of Kenobi could finally pay off when it leads them to Tatooine. However little do they know they’ve been tracked the entire time by a bounty hunter sent by Vader. They’d been attacked by them multiple times but never realized they were the same person who’d had it out for them to begin with. But none of that matters once they get to Tatooine and let their guard down.

It may have been easy to find the planet on which Obi-Wan now lives, but it’s much harder to find his exact location when the planet is covered in nothing but sand for miles and all the houses that are spread a ranch’s worth apart from one another look exactly the same. At this point, Cody must make peace with the fact that he may never find the closure or meaning that he’s been looking for and that he can’t be chasing his own tail, trying to find Obi-Wan or anyone else when that endeavor could be entirely fruitless. He decides he’ll stop and make a life for himself separate from both the Republic and the Empire. And just as he decides that the assassin strikes. Cody is killed before he can find Obi-Wan, before Obi-Wan strolls into town just a few hours later and meets Ynox. Neither of them recognize each other and neither of them know each other’s relationship to Cody.

What a long stream of consciousness! It was far more specific than I initially intended it to be but because some things were more specific, it raised more questions with rather vague or nonexistent answers. Maybe this is less of a redemption arc and more or a complete mess. However I hope it might get anyone who stuck around to read it thinking about what types of character arcs defected clones might go through. Season 7 of the Clone Wars gave us a little more insight to Rex’s character development, but I wanted to see more of a de-radicalization process. Perhaps this whole thing should have been about Rex instead. But people seemed so upset over Cody’s betrayal (even though at this point it’s the only direction that makes sense), so I thought that it couldn’t hurt to fantasize.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure if an outline such as this one is really warranted, as it's hard to say what Cody stans would even want at this point. But I really want an au where Cody has to really contemplate the entire system, even pre-Empire, the same way Rex did. I couldn't even get into the details of how the limitations of Cody questioning battle tactics of the enemy were in his inability to question authority and that's how Rex suspected Echo was still alive while Cody refused to even entertain the notion. I couldn't get into how this introspection saved Rex from Order 66 while Cody ultimately could not be saved. If anyone has read this all the way through, let me know what you think about what would happen to Cody if his inhibitor chip were removed or disabled. What do you believe would be the first things that he would decide to do? Would he willingly continue to serve the Empire? Would he try and start his own rebellion? Would he try to make contact with the rebel clones?


End file.
